Chapter 56: Beast King

Soon after, a large basin of steaming beast blood was placed before a huge gray wolf, almost too much to fit.

Zhang Jie had bought this large basin intending to use it for convenient bathing, but he never expected it would be just right for holding beast blood.

"Weiniya, this time you must support me well, don't let me fall into the basin again."

Zhang Jie gazed solemnly at Weiniya, who nodded seriously in return.

"Don't worry, teacher! I will absolutely not let you become any stupider!"

"Get lost."

Zhang Jie tapped Weiniya, and she stuck out her tongue playfully.

Rolling up his sleeves, Zhang Jie half-squatted before the basin, while Weiniya wrapped her small hands around his shoulders to support him.

Zhang Jie slowly plunged his hand into the wolf blood, and instantly the prickling sensation surged again.

The beast blood boiled, and countless streams of qi and blood power rushed through his pores into the meridians; a bone‑splitting pain struck again, and Zhang Jie nearly fainted once more.

"Teacher!"

Seeing Zhang Jie's twitching, pained face, Weiniya panicked and tried to pull him out.

"I!... I'm... not... dead!"

Zhang Jie forced out three words with all his strength, his expression twisted, as if every pore were straining.

The wolf blood in the basin lost its color at a visible speed, while the qi and blood contained within the beast blood ceaselessly flowed into his body, confirming Zhang Jie's guess.

"Indeed it is!"

Feeling the numbness on his arm fade, Zhang Jie gradually regained control of his body.

By then the basin of wolf blood had turned into a transparent, viscous liquid, all color gone, and Zhang Jie's eyes shone with even greater delight.

"Teacher? What have you discovered?"

Looking at Zhang Jie's delighted expression, Weiniya was very curious.

"I seem... able to absorb the qi and blood from giant beasts..."

"Qi and blood?!"

Weiniya's eyes lit up; Zhang Jie had once told her how to advance on the martial path, and the two words 'qi and blood' are closely tied to the third stage of martial arts.

In the third stage of martial arts, refining qi and blood to forge the spirit, the first step is to condense qi and blood, completely transforming the body's vast inner energy into qi and blood—this is truly entering the third realm.

"If the master can absorb the qi and blood of giant beasts..."

"Teacher, teacher! Can I too?"

Zhang Jie pondered for a moment, then squeezed the giant wolf's corpse here and there, extracting another basinful of beast blood from the bottom.

Weiniya eagerly imitated Zhang Jie, placing her hand in it, but felt nothing.

Zhang Jie watched her bewildered actions, looking utterly confused.

No, what's the point of poking the beast blood with your prosthetic limb?

Zhang Jie opened his mouth to speak, then stopped, looking at Weiniya speechless; just as he was about to retort, she reacted first.

Weiniya sheepishly withdrew her red little claw, glanced guiltily at Zhang Jie, seemingly checking whether he had noticed her foolish act.

"Don't hide—I saw you!"

Zhang Jie shouted loudly; Weiniya's hand, which had been shrinking back, paused, then, not knowing what else to do, she boldly stretched it out to rub his shoulder.

"I! I certainly know!"

"I just wanted to wipe it onto my shoulder!"

No matter how she argued, it was useless; Zhang Jie had already taken it all in.

Ignoring his foolish disciple's antics, Zhang Jie spoke up to ask.

"How is it? Any feeling?"

-Weiniya closed her eyes to savor it for a while, but in the end she felt only a faint coolness on her shoulder.

She stubbornly tried several more spots, yet still felt nothing.

"None..."

Weiniya looked slightly disappointed, but soon she perked up again.

"Teacher! If that's the case, can you quickly enter the third stage of the martial path?"

Zhang Jie felt it carefully, then nodded at Weiniya.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go slay some giant beasts!"

Hearing that the teacher could grow stronger faster, Weiniya seemed even happier than Zhang Jie, pulling him off to find giant beasts to play with.

Helpless, Zhang Jie stopped her and gave her a thorough lesson on giant beasts.

What they have killed so far are at most somewhat larger animals, not even qualifying as giant beasts.

Giant beasts are wild animals whose limits have been removed; they have no size ceiling, and with enough food even a mouse could grow as large as an elephant.

Giant beasts under five meters tall are uniformly called juvenile beasts; those from five to twenty meters are called growing giant beasts; and those over twenty meters are called adult giant beasts.

Those exceeding a hundred meters in body length are called Beast Kings.

This is merely the minimum standard for identifying a Beast King; a Beast King represents the ruler and core of its species.

Over the years, records of slaying Beast Kings in the major walled zones are few and far between, and every prosthetic made from a Beast King's body fetches an astronomical price.

"In a one‑on‑one situation, we can at most hunt giant beasts around ten meters; we must not be reckless."

Zhang Jie educated her, while Weiniya was obviously only interested in prosthetics made from Beast Kings, constantly chattering and asking Zhang Jie where she could buy such a prosthetic.

"What are you thinking? Such things are tightly gripped by corporate conglomerates and big families, and what they can obtain are merely the leftovers from the garrisons."

"To put it bluntly, basically every garrison in the walled zones actually has the strength to oppose a Beast King; it's just that slaying one requires paying a heavy price."

Weiniya listened attentively; just as she was about to ask something, the earth suddenly trembled, a sky‑shaking tiger roar came from afar, and countless giant beasts kept appearing in their distant view, fleeing toward the horizon.

"Waaah! Teacher! What's going on?!"

"Beast tide? No!"

"It doesn't look like a beast tide.."

Zhang Jie couldn't tell for a moment, so he decided not to get involved in these matters.

A gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall!

Weiniya is here, let's withdraw!

Eh? Withdraw again?

She really wants to go join the fun!

In the time he was dazed, Zhang Jie had already run a long distance.

"Teacher! Teacher! Wait for me!!!"

Weiniya instantly activated Stanweistin and chased after Zhang Jie.

In a place several kilometers away from the two, a huge beast body without a head collapsed on the ground; the huge wound kept spurting beast blood, turning into a not-small stream that flowed into a nearby small pond, dyeing the clear lake water red.

On the beast's body, which was over a hundred meters long, the white-patterned fur was covered with scars; around it lay a large number of trees broken by impact and large splatters of beast blood, all indicating how brutal this battle was.

Ha... ha...

Succeeded... really succeeded!

A man covered in blood excitedly stood up and burst into laughter.

What I thought was indeed correct! Hahaha!